Sony Xperia Z3+ Phone is as Close as You'll Get to an Xperia Z4 in the UK

Sony had a fairly quiet MWC this year. Though it revealed its smart, business-focussed Xperia Z4 tablet, there were a few sighs when the mobile showcase closed without a glimpse of an Xperia Z4 smartphone to go with it. April saw the Xperia Z4 smartphone finally land in Japan, but it's a slightly different approach here in the UK. Today sees the unveiling of the Xperia Z3+, which, for all intents and purposes, seems pretty much identical to its Japanese stablemate.

Looking very similar to the Xperia Z3, with some small but significant spec bumps, the disparity seems purely based on marketing -- whereas Japanese audiences demand progression if only in name, we're a little more cynical, hence Sony playing it safe with the "+" moniker rather than declaring the mostly-iterative Xperia Z3+ a full-blown sequel.

Xperia Z3+ Specs

With a 5.2-inch full HD screen, the handset once again comes dust-and-waterproofed, this time making use of a capless charging port allowing you to dunk it without first fiddling around for a cover to put over the delicate electrical connectors. 6.9mm slim and weighing 144g, the handset keeps the same metal-edged, glass-backed design with rounded edges of the Z3. A quick glance and you'd barely spot the difference. Black and white colours will be available, with Vodafone customers exclusively offered a copper version, and Carphone Warehouse getting an "Ice Green" edition.

Under the hood sits Qualcomm's 810 octa-core 64-bit processor. While Sony is yet to disclose the battery capacity, it's claiming processor efficiency and power-saving software features will see you easily squeeze out two days of use between charges. Quick Charge 2.0 tech will give you a day's worth of juice from just a 45 minute charge, too.

Around the back you'll find a 20.7MP rear camera sensor, using a 25mm wide-angle G lens. It's the front-facing camera that gets the most love though, with the 5MP sensor now paired with the same 25mm wide-angle lens as the one around back. Digital image stabilisation through the Steadyshot Intelligent Active Mode should minimise shaky shots, too.

As with previous Xperia handsets, the Z3+ supports Sony's Remote Play game streaming feature when used alongside the PlayStation 4, and also uses DSEE HX upscaling to improve the audio quality of your shoddy ripped MP3 files.

No word on pricing yet, but with this now replacing the Xperia Z3 at the top of Sony's smartphone pile, don't expect to pay less than £550 for the handset when it launches in June.